Primitive Punk

This week’s lecture on Punk introduced notions of the cut-and-paste aesthetic, as well as the torn t-shirt fashion. This blog however, will focus on the notions of primitivism that are associated with punk. ‘Primitivism’ itself seems to be a hegemonic term used by those of the present that have a sense of nostalgia about a pre-technological (or pre-civilisation) period. In doing so, people make the assumption that other unique cultures fit into degrees of progress into civilisation. For example a culture in the Papua New Guinea highlands, with nasal piercing, body paint and penis shoots are seen as a reflection of a period of pre-civilisation that must have been experienced by Caucasian tribesmen in the past. However, the pinnacle of technological civilisation is portrayed as being America or Europe. This analysis of the ‘primitive’ ideology may seem ‘anthropological’ in nature, but by understanding such ideologies, we may understand how modern people including punks, give themselves licence, to borrow from various cultures around the world and make it their own under the all embracing ‘Punk’ lifestyle. This is most clearly seen in tattoo websites or magazines; texts that usually categorise tattoo by culture. One will see headings such as ‘Japanese tattoo’ and ‘Polynesian tattoo’, as well as ‘Primitive tattoo’. Such tattoos are neither ancient, nor primitive but are created by mainstream European ‘punks’ who adopt and adapt other cultural tattoo designs as their own signs, creating their own unique meanings. Such people are ‘punks’ because they reject their own civilisation and culture in favour of nostalgia for a primitive past that is expressed through the cultures of other races. Such an ideology is part of the ‘Punk’ ideal and music. In the Sex Pistol’s ‘God Save the Queen’ they are rejecting cultural hegemony and mainstream societal pressures. When punks do this, their only other option is a primitive reality in which cultural norms are not present.